An interesting question about the Republicans’ rollout of their Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan was bubbling up among pundits and policy journalists on Tuesday. That question can be summed up this way: What the hell are GOP leaders doing?

The question stems from the very vocal opposition to the plan that sprang up the minute Republicans in the House released their bill on Monday night — not opposition from Democrats, which was to be expected. No, the loudest hostility came from Republican lawmakers, pundits and conservative-leaning think tanks like Heritage, Cato and others.

With any normal piece of legislation, the majority party could be expected to get a “buy-in” from all the “stakeholders” before writing and unveiling the bill. With something as large as repealing and replacing Obamacare, the majority party wants to present a united front, to signal to voters that it’s in control.

I can see it now, the GOP propaganda machine is revving up to blame the Dems for stalling this piece of s*** legislation, if one can call it that.

Governing??? Yeah, right, and pigs are flying all over the place.

_________________________
Jim

If you're incompetent, you can't know you're incompetent. […] the skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is.

The idiot-ological differences preclude any hope of compromise. Conservatives believe some magical pixie powder will allow the free market do what it's never been able to do i.e. through free market sentience figure out what the public needs and provide the solution (universal healthcare).

Let conservatives own it.

_________________________ignorance is the enemywithout equality there is no liberty

The idiot-ological differences preclude any hope of compromise. Conservatives believe some magical pixie powder will allow the free market do what it's never been able to do i.e. through free market sentience figure out what the public needs and provide the solution (universal healthcare).

Let conservatives own it.

CONservatives are not bright enough to see that the "free market" has already been tried in Chile during the Pinochet coup when MIliton Freeman's Chicago School of Economics theory was tried out. Prior to this coup, Freeman's theories were just on paper.

The result of Freeman's theory of free markets in Chile? Unimaginable high inflation and even higher unimaginable unemployment.

Perhaps the hope of Republican leaders is that this proposed legislation die a horrible, gruesome, public death... So that they can come back with a compromise bill in league with Democrats that will incorporate some market ideas to "improve" the ACA, declare victory, and move on.

The truth is that Obama already won. Americans want the ACA, they now believe healthcare is a right. Note we're just suckering over the price.

_________________________A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich

Top Medicaid Official Comes out against TrumpCareThere is a traitor in Price's own shop who outed himself publicly. Ya cant have a real expert there who is actually doing what his oath of office requires, helping to get the best health care for the most people. They will dump him immediately as a severe threat to what I call:TrumpDontCare.

Tat

Quote:

A senior Medicaid official broke with his own department Wednesday and came out publicly against the GOP’s bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Andrey Ostrovsky, the chief medical officer for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), announced in a Twitter post that he was opposed to the Republican bill pending in the House. CMCS is a division within the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Secretary Tom Price, a former Republican congressman, is the Trump administration's point person on Obamacare repeal and replace.

"Despite political messaging from others at HHS, I align with the experts from [American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Association] in opposition to #AHCA," Andrey Ostrovsky, chief medical officer for The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), wrote on Twitter.

Despite political messaging from others at HHS, I align with the experts from @aafp @AmerAcadPeds @AmerMedicalAssn in opposition to #AHCA

— Andrey Ostrovsky, MD (@AndreyOstrovsky) March 9, 2017

Ostrovsky, an Obama appointee who assumed his role in September 2016, joins associations representing hospitals, doctors, seniors and insurers who have criticized the bill this week. Like Democrats and moderate conservatives who oppose the legislation, those groups say the proposal provides low-income and aging Americans with much fewer protections than they had under Obamacare.

Andy Slavitt, who ran the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services under Obama and has heavily criticized the GOP bill, praised Ostrovsky as a “hero” on Twitter.

We should have a ton of admiration for @AndreyOstrovsky and what he did tonight.

Just watched a CNN (360°) segment interviewing Trump supporters about the new healthcare plan. God, these people are delusional. They actually believed Trump would fulfill his promises, and are shocked that he's not representing their interests. Can you imagine?

_________________________A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich